I’m not a marketing expert. I’m not good at it. And I don’t even like it. But I know communication is part of running a business — so I wrestle with it. (See more) Recently, someone connected with me on LinkedIn and immediately started sending sales messages. I ignored the first few, then disconnected, but the messages kept coming.
So I finally replied — politely — to say the outreach felt excessive and was hurting more than helping. The next day, another one landed in my inbox. Around the same time, someone suggested I buy a cold email list. “Send a thousand messages,” they said. “Even if three people respond, you still win.” But that logic makes me sick.
Because it means 997 people just had their day made a little worse — more clutter, more noise — so I might gain a small edge. Maybe it costs me nothing. But it costs them something. That’s not how I want to do business. I never want to make someone’s day worse so I can make mine better. Technology should amplify humanity, not erase it.
If our outreach makes people feel unseen, it’s not strategy — it’s noise. The future of business isn’t more automation It’s better attention.
What do you think — can outreach still be genuine at scale, or is that a contradiction in itself?